Great to see political impartility on this page. Firstly the report was written by a former Labour Culture Secreatary, Lord Smith and it was a cross party report. Lord Smith was the chair for the report. Secondly not all films funded by the Film Council were critical or artistic successs. Sex Lives of the Potato Men got £1 Millions of public money, a awful comedy film that starred Johnny Vegas and made by a director who never anything of worth. Would you really want public money to fund a film like The Room or Birdemic? I do not agree that money should be given to a film because of its commerial merit alone but I do believe that they should be some sort of quality control when funding films, that the best scripts, either feature films or short films, getting funding and that mid-sizes films like costume dramas and first time directors get a fair share of the pie. Big budget blockbusters should be supported by tax breaks and many Hollywood films are being made in Britain already. I am of the view that quality will always rise to the top, film fans will always find the best films and word of mouth will make it spread and that people do pay attend to critics in newspapers, magazines, etc...

Would you really want public money to fund a film like The Room or Birdemic?

Did you read the article at all? Did you read Ken Loach's comments? Of course nobody "Wants" movies like The Room or Birdemic to waste public money but if they had been massive money-earners would there have been a problem. The fact is that a fantastic script can be turned into absolute crap or vice visa and there's few indicators about what will actually be successful (bar making sequels which is lazy and creatively bacnkrupt).

True The Sex Lives of the potatoe Men was rubbish but before it came out it drew interest and had potential to be great. If you only spend money on massive productions then there's going to be a lot further to fall (which will inevitably happen)

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How dare you call me inhumane. Right you fucker. I'm going to do the washing up.